This new collection in my shop is a real HIT! I had a BALL coming up with a theme for this special little boy's birthday party! Little Hunter loves balls so a baseball theme was an obvious and classic choice! Because it is his first birthday I couldn't resist a fun little play on words. We decided to go with a "Home-ONE" party. We had fun celebrating America's favorite past time in all of the decor and menu items. We served popcorn, cracker jacks, peanuts, hot dogs, sunflower seeds and bottled cokes and decorated in a natural outdoor setting with lots of red white and blue. Our American flag stood as the perfect backdrop for the outdoor buffet table! See below for more details and vendor credits. Visit myEtsy shopfor more info on theBaseball Party Printabledesigns!

Details and vendor credits : :

I hit up Sport's Authority and got everyone in the family a different colored baseball tee. On Hunter's shirt I designed iron ons for the front and back. "Little Slugger" on the front and "McGavock" and "01" below on the back.

We decorated with red white and blue paper lanters and tissue pompoms indoors and outdoors. I also discovered a quirky little trick for blowing up 150 balloons in under 10 minutes. I switched my garage vacuum hose to the exhaust air so that it blows instead of sucks and I stretched the balloons over the hose to blow up.

Hunter's grandma and grandpa were visiting from out of state and Grandpa was eager to help! Her made a perfect concession stand worker!

Hunter's baseball hat was from the 2013 season at Gymboree. I received it as a gift from my baby shower and I fell in love with it! When he grew out of it I ordered another larger size off of Amazon so that he would have one that fit at his party.

I used old dirty baseballs for decor and I also bought a new bucket of balls for use on the cake and in decorative dishes. We saved one special ball for out visitors to "autograph" on their way into the party.

Ombre cake - Layer your cakes into as many layers and sizes as you want. Mix 4 shades of frosting from white, light, medium and dark in whatever color you want in separate bowls. Start at the top with your lightest color of frosting, piping with a wide round tip. Do the top and down the sides an inch or two, without rinsing out your piping bag add the next color (a shade darker) and continue piping another 1/4 of the way down your cake. Repeat with the other two shades. You don't need to rinse out your bag because as the lighter color fades and the dark color comes out it will naturally transition the colors. You want your transitions to be as gradual as possible. If you are an excellent piper and like clean lines then you can be done her... For the rest of us that don't have as steady of a hand grab a spatula, spoon, butter knife or any object with a flat smooth tip and begin at the top and wipe around the cake making "intentional" smears in your frosting. The messier the better! It is important to work from the top down because it's ok to get a little lighter frosting in the darker areas but once a dark color is in your light frosting you aren't getting it out! Good Luck!

Baseball Cookies - I used this sugar cookie recipe - http://allrecipes.com/recipe/soft-sugar-cookies-iv/ - for the fluffiest, softest and most delicious cookies ever! I then added a dab of cream cheese frosting (see recipe below) and applied the fondant baseballs to the top. I made my own marshmallow fondant (see recipe below) and used a round cookie cutter (a cup would work too!) and cut out circles. I then used the round cookie cutter to make delicate impressions on the sides to use as a guide for piping my red laces. I used store bought red icing from Joann's to pipe the laces. After some trial and error I decided that the thinner and cleaner the lines the better looking they turned out.

The most amazing cream cheese frosting (great for cakes, cupcakes cookies, you name it!- 1 8oz package of cream cheese, 1 stick butter and 4 cups of powdered sugar. So simple and so delicious!

Marshmallow fondant - 1 bag of mini marshmallows, 2T water, microwave for a minute, stir till smooth, pour in 1/2 a bag of powdered sugar and stir till very thick. Transfer to a well greased (crisco) kitchenaid bowl and mix with the dough hook until the fondant is thick enough to look like bread dough and doesn't stick to the bowl. *If you're a newbie, this takes a little trial and error :( Then roll out and use as desired.

Beep Beep Vroom Vroom! I'm over the moon for this new collection that I just added to my etsy shop! One of my very favorite customers came to me with a "vision" of a transportation themed party with trucks, helicopters, trains and a hot air balloon! She told me her must-haves and color scheme and ideas for backgrounds and I started designing! I love how the close-set chunky lettering adds weight and a different creative element to the designs. Once the graphic designs were done on my end, Brittany took over with the design of the table scape, backdrops and food menu. Some of the fun elements she added to the snack table were the Jello Stop lights, lumps of coal (chocolatey bites) and spare tires (mini chocolate donuts). I absolutely adore all of the bright colors she used to really celebrate this fun and whimsical time in a little boy's life! A very big thank you to Brittany for sharing these awesome photos with me! Mr. Kellen has one fantastic mama! Visit my etsy shop and check out the Transportation Collection for more info on the designs!

Hello Hello! Today as I sit at my desk and watch the rain outside I am bringing you a little piece of sunshine! The newStrawberry Picnic Collection! I created this collection for a "Berry" sweet little girl Mya, for her 5th birthday! This collection was so much fun to design and even more fun to bring to life as we arranged the table scape and all of the details started coming together! This outdoor party celebrated everything Strawberry! From the Strawberry cupcakes, cake pops and cookies, to the Strawberry Lemonade stand, to the homemade strawberry jam that was passed out as party favors! Fresh local strawberries we arranged in pecking baskets throughout the picnic area for guests to help themselves to a juicy snack. To complete the picnic-like feel of the party, guests sat on bails of hay arranged as benches at the picnic table. We are loving the handmade 3 layer table cloth the really brings the eye upwards to the amazing table scape! Check out more details on the printable items in myEtsy Shop!

Glass Vintage Lemonade Jars - sneaky-sneaky - these were glass bottles that the bottled Starbucks Frappuccinos came in. I'm not a coffee drinker so I purchase the drinks, dumped out the coffee, washed them in the dish washer and got any leftover adhesive on the outside of the bottle off with GooGone and TaDa! Super cheap (but makes a BIG statement) glass bottles.

I am in awe of these bright and cheerful pictures that Karisa Beerbower took of her son's first birthday. I love how she incorporated all kinds of color into her theme. It is so playful and fun to look at. My favorite item from this party aside from of course the amazing cake has got to be the Lorax cookies. Who would have thought that with little eye balls and a stache, some Nutter Butter cookies could be so cute! Such a great job Karisa. I want to come to your next party!

Just thought I would take a quick second to pop in and share the sweetest appreciation photos that I just received from a happy customer. She used myLittle Red Wagon collection for her son

Hank's first birthday. Hank. Probably one of my very favorite boy names ever and a sweet face to go with it! A big thank you to Hank's mom, Lindsey and to Jonathan Rotella Photography for sharing the cuteness!

If there's anything that makes my heart go pitter-patter, it's getting appreciation photos from happy customers. I love seeing how each person puts their own unique touch and creativity into the designs to make them their own.

These photos came from Natalie from Austrailia. She used the construction printables for her son Braxton's 2nd birthday party. She did such a great job and didn't spare any details. You would never guess that she put a rush on the order and completed the entire thing in about 2 weeks! My favorite details are hands-down the adorable tractor cake and the tool-shaped cookies that she made herself! Did I mention that she has 3 small children!?! How does she find the time... And keep little fingers out? {I have youngsters too and one time I had to hide a birthday cake in my closet just to keep it safe!} Everything tied together absolutely perfectly from the black & yellow cups & table settings, to the caution tape framing the table to the creatively labeled buffet items! Very well done Natalie! Just one question, do you ship cakes to California?

This collection was designed for my Little Guy... Who thinks he's Big... and likes his trucks even Bigger!

Checkered flags & bright lime green & teal blue make this visually stimulating party feel like a day at the monster truck ralley! My husband and I had a fun time making a play-on-words for some of the dessert table labels.

Fruit Punch dispenser - Fuel Station

Oreos - Flat tires

Brownies - Mud Tracks

Chocolate mini donuts - Spare tires

Even Bubbles {used as party favors} had a cute label that said "Blow some exhaust" in front of them!

Black and white striped paper straws were a perfect fit for this party! They were used in the party cups and cut in thirds and used as cupcake topper sticks!

The party was held outside in the garage, with a bounce house in the driveway. We cleared off my husband's work bench and set up the dessert table there. A spare tire from our truck served as a perfect accent piece to the décor!

Some of the printable designs used at this party include : :

Invitation

2 inch party circles - for cupcakes, party cups, on bubble gum favors & on the party hat

Visit my Etsy shop::DIY Printables

Meet Belva June

Welcome!

Before there was a Martha, there was a Belva June who sewed her own drapes, dyed her own hair, had dinner on by 5 and never left the house without make-up! I'm using all her old secrets and making them new. This is my DIY blog where classic is the new mod!